


One of the Lucky Ones

by Luckycharmer (Wick_Charmer)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Gen, Kwami Swap, Power Swap, Sharing a Bed, catnip. not even once, pre-reveal, pretty much what you expect from a kwami swap au plus marinette on catnip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-10-14 20:05:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17515136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wick_Charmer/pseuds/Luckycharmer
Summary: Only about 50% of cats are actually sensitive to and go crazy around catnip, the other half are either only mildly pleased with it or could care less. Adrien thought that he wasn’t affected by the plant because he was still human, albeit with cat-like powers. However, after trading kwamis one night, Marinette found out that this wasn’t exactly the case…





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This ficlet is dedicated to my cat who is not affected by catnip and inspired me to learn more about cats and catnip, which led to this  
> -Jason

“Do you think he’ll like it?” Marinette tilted her head slightly as she examined the little pouch in her hands. There was a crooked stitch by the corner but otherwise the seams were clean and straight, a worthy gift for her partner.

Tikki settled on the desk beside a pile of scrap fabric, “I’m sure he’ll love it! When was the last time you gave him a home-made gift he _didn’t_ like?”

“I guess you have a point,” She gave a small smile as she turned the pouch over in her hands one last time, recalling plenty of bakery boxes accepted with open arms and hungry eyes.

“Hey Marinette!” A familiar face popped though the open skylight.

“CHATyou’reearly!” She spun around just a smidge too fast and fumbled with the pouch. Thankfully, she was able to clutch her hands over it on her lap before he noticed (she hoped anyway). This was _way_ earlier than they usually meet and she’ll be damned if she lets him spoil her surprise. “I-I’ll be right up just give me a sec to grab the snacks.”

“Okay, sounds good,” Chat Noir gave her a thumbs-up (well, thumbs-down from Marinette’s perspective), then added “Ooh don’t forget the little paw-print cookies. Delicious AND adorable!” and just like that he disappeared the way he came.

Marinette scrambled to wrap the little present in some tissue paper before gathering the requested snacks from her kitchen. Soon enough she had an armful of goodies and headed up to meet the hero on the roof.

She was greeted with no less enthusiasm than before.

When he saw her Chat swept his hands wide in a grand gesture, “There she is! Girl of the hour, bringer of sweets and all things good!” Marinette couldn’t help but smile as she set out the snacks on the small patio table between them. “I hope your day went well, Princess, as did mine” he leaned forward, holding his fists in front of him like an excited child, “ohmygosh I have SO much to tell you!”

Marinette made herself comfortable on her lawn-chair and gestured for him to sit next to her. “And I HAVE to hear it, but first…” she reached into her pajama pocket and presented the gift to him “Surprise!”

“Wh-… for me?”

“For you!”

Chat took the parcel and unwrapped it slowly, careful to not tear the paper too much, “What’s the occasion?”

“No occasion. I just thought you’d like a little surprise is all,” at this point Marinette was on the edge of her seat. She was finally going to get results from her month-long efforts to solve a mystery surrounding a certain feline-esque hero….and catnip.

The last of the paper was put aside as Chat examined the pouch. The light tan fabric was coarse like burlap and had simple brown and white kitten footprints printed all over. Although the cut was rectangular, the contents puffed it up so much the middle was nearly round and when squeezed, they crunched and crinkled. Chat noticed a faint yet interesting scent coming from it and took a whiff. Then….

“This is super cute, thanks Marinette! Is this a potpourri bag? Let me guess…sage, with a hint of…” another sniff “mint?”

Nothing.

Well, she wouldn’t say nothing, but not the reaction she wanted. She wasn’t going to admit that she was disappointed, but if she was truely honest with herself, she hoped that she would get to see him act the way cats usually act around catnip. Oh well, she figured it was a long-shot.

“It’s actually catnip. I’ve been growing a small pot of it to make tea and thought that you would like some too. But… you’re not…?”

“Going crazy? Yeah I already know,” he reached for his first cookie of the night. “Trust me when I say that was one of the first things I tried when I started this whole hero gig. Even asked Plagg about it but he was no help, just kinda shrugged it off and said he never cared for the stuff. I guess even humans with cat powers are immune to catnip,” Chat shrugged and looked up from the pouch in his hands to find Marinette’s excitement had deflated, “B-but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy your gift! I love the smell of catmint and this is a great size to keep by my pillow to help me sleep!”

That coaxed a smile from her, somewhere between an I’m-glad-you-like-your-gift smile and an I’m-imagining-you-sleeping-with-it-by-your-pillow-and-gosh-you’re-cute smile. Either way she was content. So what if Chat Noir wasn’t affected by catnip. What good is having a superhero who’s weakness is a weed anyway?

Sure Marinette had to mourn the loss of potential funny (and possibly embarrassing) videos, but she was eager to get their night of games and gossip started. “Alright, but there won’t be any sleeping tonight. I have a few games picked out downstairs and a movie queued and ready to go. But first…” she grabbed a cookie for herself and turned in her seat to face Chat, “Ok now PLEASE tell me what happened!”

xxx

“Claws In!”

A bright green light enveloped Chat Noire, masking the transformation of the superheroine back into the civilian schoolgirl, Marinette, despite being alone on her own balcony. Plagg tumbled from the ring and into her cupped hands as the light faded, and then came the crocodile tears.

“Ugh… _How_ many more times do we have to do this? I’m staaarvinggg”

“What are you talking about? This was my first transformation with Chat Noir’s ring,” This was, in fact, her first time as Chat instead of Ladybug. After losing a bet, she and Chat had agreed to trade their miraculouses for a week. Apparently Hawkmoth was getting lazier at naming his akumas. They were becoming so predictable that Chat could guess their name before the akuma even had a chance to say it.

“I meant transforming so close to my snacktime. I don’t see why we have to keep up with these patrols if I’m on vacation.”

“Ah-ah, this isn’t a vacation,” she corrected, “Cha-Ladybug and I still need to be on our toes, regardless of which miraculous we’re using.” Marinette quietly opened the hatch of her skylight, careful to not make too much noise and wake her parents (she would certainly get an earful if they found out she was up this late on a school night). She crept into her room and found Plagg a wedge of cheese, promising to get him some camembert tomorrow after classes, and started getting ready for bed.

It was only a matter of minutes before she heard a loud clink from her desk and turned to see Plagg sniffing the spilled contents of a glass jar. Marinette sighed and muttered under her breath, " _Here we go…_ ” She knew from Chat Noir’s stories the black-cat kwami could be a handful, but she still somewhat hoped he could keep his rowdiness to a minimum, at least for a few days.

Nope. It was not even an hour after they returned home that he blessed her with her first knocked-over-container of cat ownership. So, she dutifully walked over to her desk to clean up the mess.

“Isn’t it a little early to be causing trouble, silly cat?” Marinette righted the small jar labeled “Chat-mint” and started gathering the dried leaves from her desk and floor. Even though they were dried, they were pleasantly aromatic, albeit a lot stronger than usual.

“It’s almost midnight,” Plagg deadpanned, pointing to her desktop monitor.

“Oh, ha-ha.”

“ _And for your information_ your cheddar wasn’t enough and I’m hungry again, so I’m looking for more food. My regular kid always has snacks stashed around his room for me.”

“Awww, is the hungwy widdle kitty sniffing for tweats with his widdle nose?” She was not above baby-talking to the embodiment of misfortune, especially if he was going to be causing her trouble. (Plus, he was just too cute!)

“ _You’re playing with fire, girly._ ”

“Ok, well, like I said before, I don’t have camembert so you’ll have to be patient until I can go shopping tomorrow,” she picked up the last of the leaves, but hesitated in placing them back in the jar. (Since when did she love the smell of catmint so much??) “If you want I can sneak you a cheese danish from the bakery for breakfast.”

Plagg grumbled about it but ultimately gave in. He supposed he could try putting up with the baker-girl’s taunts if it meant he was promised cheesy treats. “Ok fine…but we’re going straight to the market after school tomorrow, no ‘if’s, ‘and’s, or ‘but’s.”

“Promise!”

“By the way, you should probably put that stuff away if you plan on getting any sleep tonight.”

Marinette gave him a blank look.

“W-what…?”

“The catnip,” he pointed to her hand that still held a few dried catmint leaves. “It looks like you’re one of the lucky ones. I wasn’t going to say anything before, but I don’t want you sleeping in and forgetting my breakfast.”

The girl looked from one hand to the other (they were shaking?) and impulsively brought the one holding catmint up to her nose.

“Wow, ok, that is EXACTLY the OPPOSITE of what I just said,” Marinette just barely heard the kwami’s remark before breathing in the pure, undiluted scent of catmint.

Plagg watched as her pupils dilated, now as round as plates, and giddily thought of all the fun he was going to have in the coming week. He watched as she started pacing her room, muttering to herself, and hoped she wasn’t going to be doing that all night (he needs his beauty sleep, after all). He was just about ready to turn in when she turned on her heel to face him and said in a panicked whisper, “I Can’t Stay Here… I need to Go!!……PLAGG! Claws Out!”

 _So much for a good night’s sleep_ , was Plagg’s last thought before he was sucked into the ring for the second time that night.

xxx

Chat Noire bounded across rooftop after rooftop, not feeling the slightest bit tired despite it being 1am. She knew on some level that she didn’t exactly look graceful with her clumsy and erratic movements, but on every level, she didn’t care. A run in the now-chilly night air was all she could think to use up some of her extra energy.

However, she didn’t expect her feet to bring her to the rooftop of a dear friend of hers. Nor did she expect to lose her footing as she tried to land on the far edge of the roof, which resulted in her clawing at the windows as she slid down the large panes of glass. She hoped (prayed) the ear-shattering sound of nails on glass would not wake the sleeping boy inside, but, of course, she was not the wielder of the good-luck miraculous anymore.

Around halfway down the wall of windows she was finally able to find a foothold, but her relief was short lived. With the help of her night-vision, she watched the boy groggily sit up in bed to turn on his bedside lamp. She wished she listened to her instincts to run, she wished she could, but the instant the light flickered on, she was frozen in place.

xxx

Adrien had had a long day. On top of his regular school schedule and extra-curriculars, he also just returned from his first night on duty as Ladybug. For the most part he enjoyed it; Tikki is a sweetheart, and it was interesting to see the changes in his and Chat Noire’s costumes (the blue ribbon bow on her collar is probably the Cutest Thing he’d ever seen). The downside of the trade? He’s _very not good_ with a yo-yo and has the bruises to prove it. So when he finished his rounds and got home that evening, he was eternally grateful for a warm shower and a soft bed.

His blissful sleep was short-lived though, and he woke with a start to a loud screeching sound coming from the window.

Tikki sprung up from her cushion, flitting to and fro in the dark trying to find Adrien in the unfamiliar room. “Goodness! WHAT is that HORRIBLE, AWEFUL NOISE?”

“Ugh, do I _want_ to know?” Adrien grumbled as he reached to turn on a light.

“……Chat?…Chat Noire??” _Am I dreaming?_ He slipped out of bed and made his weary way over to the window Chat clung to. While he wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, he wasn’t about to leave her out in the cold no matter how tired he was.

Careful to not let her fall, he unlatched the next window over so she could crawl through on her own.

Her silken scarf-tail billowed around her form as she shimmied her way over to the open window, plopping to the floor like a heap of laundry. Adrien knelt to help her up, noting the sharp flicks of her tail (why was she on edge?). She stood awkwardly and couldn’t seem to keep still. “Hey,” he said quietly, rubbing her arm to sooth her nerves, “Hey, is everything alright? You’re shaking.”

“…I think- I…you know uhh…I did-…”

“Yeah?” He kept his tone patient, while his thoughts were busy jumping to conclusions.

“Y-you know catnip?”

“….Yes?”

“I…I tried it. and it………it’s _Good_ ,” she looked directly into his eyes, wide pupils trapping him in their gaze. “What do I do now?

He wasn’t sure about her, but all he could do was laugh.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien is a terrible Indiana Jones and Tikki has a shit-eating grin on her face

Adrien knew it was probably rude to laugh at her, but the look on Chat Noire’s face when she first looked up at him was priceless. Nevertheless, he still had no idea exactly what happened and what to expect. Brushing aside his amusement at the situation, he placed his hands on her shoulders to steady her.

“Are you really ok? It’s just catnip right, no akumas or anything making you act this way?” He wondered if his concern was getting through to her at all.

“Yeah no, yeah.. Im fine just a little-“ Her wide eyes caught sight of something over his shoulder and he lost what little attention she gave him. She darted across the room in pursuit of something invisible to him, almost literally bouncing off the walls trying to catch it. 

Tikki spoke up from her hiding place in Adrien’s pajama pocket, “Poor Chat Noire. She’s going to be so exhausted after this.”

“Wait, have you seen this before?” 

“Not in a while, but yes. There have been a few previous Chat Noirs who were affected by catmint.”

Adrien breathed a small sigh of relief that this wasn’t an akuma’s doing. He really wasn’t ready to handle an akuma alone after having the Ladybug earrings less than a day.

With _that_ concern put to rest, another thing came to mind. “I never got that way around catnip,” he wondered aloud.

Tikki shrugged, “Not every cat likes it, so not every Chat Noir likes it either. She just happens to be one of the lucky ones who do.”

They both looked at Chat Noire, who was getting ready to pounce at something on the bed. Adrien still had questions, but at the moment there were more important things to worry about.

“What should we do about Chat?”

“There’s nothing really we _can_ do except wait until the effects wear off. If we can get her to work off that extra energy or de-transform that could help her calm down enough to fall asleep.”

“Is… is there a third option? One that maybe doesn’t involve making a lot of noise or possibly revealing our identities to each other?” 

“We could…” Tikki thought for a moment, “...escort her home? But it’s awfully late and she’s not going to be easy to see in the dark. Remember - you’re not the one with night vision.”

Adrien had to admit, she had a point. Getting _Ladybug_ home in this state would've been a piece of cake for Chat Noir, but he no longer had the cat-like senses to guide him in the dark. He looked on at the current black-cat heroine, half-burrowed into his blankets and pillows, as he wondered what to do. 

Tikki left Adrien’s pocket to sneak closer to Chat Noire, keeping to the shadows. She excitedly waved him closer. On his bed, Adrien found his partner tangled in his blankets, with only the end of her silken tail and her toes still visible. 

“It looks like she settled down all on her own!” Tikki settled on Adrien’s shoulder, no longer trying to stay hidden, “The trip over here must’ve been enough of a workout after all!” 

“Thank goodness,” mumbled Adrien, partially to himself now that he didn’t have to face the conundrum from before. He tiptoed around the side of the bed where he suspected her head lay buried under some pillows. Then carefully, ever so carefully, he lifted one up to give her some air. 

His heart skipped a beat when he revealed a sleeping Chat Noire. She had apparently found the satchel of catnip Marinette gave him under his pillow and had it snuggled close to her face, hands laying limply yet protectively around the bundle. He was struck by the thought that, despite her hyperactivity just a short while ago, he had never seen her sleeping so soundly before. In the back of his mind, he remembered that even though she wore a mask of a different color, the girl underneath was still his Ladybug.  
This girl who was fast asleep in his bed, bundled in his blanket , and snoring like a kitten. 

_She’s so cute!_ , Adrien thought as his cheeks got uncomfortably warm

“You should probably take that away from her,” whispered Tikki, bringing Adrien out of his reverie.

“I know but…” Adrien eyed her clawed hands guarding the satchel. “How can I tell she won’t react if I move it?” 

“Uhh… Oh! Have you ever seen that one movie with the explorer in the funny hat? He goes to temples and in order to get the treasure without setting off the booby trap he replaces it with a bag of sand. So to get the catnip you need something to take its place, easy!” 

“Heh, ‘easy’ she says.” Adrien made his way over to his dresser and back as quietly as possible, returning with a bundled pair of socks. 

_Ok_ , he thought, _here goes nothing._

xxx

Adrien certainly didn’t expect this. When he tried to take the satchel of catnip from Chat Noire, the plan _was_ to replace it with a bundle of socks. What actually happened, to Adrien’s dismay and Tikki’s delight, is Chat tightened her grip at the wrong moment, trapping Adrien’s hand between her weapons-grade claws and her soft, beautiful face.  
He had no choice but to sit on the edge of the bed, blushing ear-to-ear, while Tikki sat on his lap with the kind of amused grin he’d expect from Plagg. 

“I promise... I’m not laughing _at_ you, it just… it took me by surprise!” Tikki said, failing to hold back her laughter.

“What am I supposed to do **_now_** , Tikki?!,” Adrien whisper-yelled, “She’s got my hand in a vice grip!”

“Well, at least you got the bag of catnip away from her,” she floated over to the satchel in his free hand. “I’ll go hide it, then all you have to do is wait a few minutes for her to loosen her grip again, and you’re free!” 

“Yeah, I guess,” Adrien let her fly off with the satchel and looked back to his bed, now an entire mess of blankets, pillows, and sheets. He figured he’ll wait a little while to get his hand back, then go sleep on the couch to let Chat have the bed for the night. She was a guest after all. 

Tikki returned from her hiding place to find Adrien slumped against the headboard, fast asleep. She did her best to move him a bit so he would be more comfortable as he slept, and as a finishing touch she turned off his bedside lamp. As she was settling down herself, she couldn’t help but wonder if it was really the catnip Chat Noire was drawn to, or was it the scent on the bag - and in the bed linens - which she associated with Chat Noir, and if that was the reason behind latching onto Adrien's hand. She pondered for a little while, but decided she would likely find her answers in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I re-read this like once to edit it and wanted to post it before I changed my mind YOLO
> 
> this story is definitely gonna have at least one more part but no promises when that will be ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> THANK YOU for reading!! comments/kudos are much appreciated <3

**Author's Note:**

> maybe to be continued?


End file.
